Road Trip: 2016 Mustang GT California Special

Beach Toy

This Race Red droptop served as the ideal Mustang Week cruiser

By Steve Turner

Each year we look forward to the gathering that fills the resort town of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with thousands of Mustangs and fans of the Ford’s pony car. When attending a gathering of this immensity, it’s important to consider your mode of transportation. While we are definitely there to observe and report, it’s always fun to do so in a cool ride.

Could there be a more perfect vehicle to travel around Myrtle Beach for Mustang Week 2016? Sure, your own Mustang would be the first choice, but a Race Red California Special convertible has to rank pretty high.

Your author has been fortunate enough to drive everything from a Fiesta ST to a Shelby GT500 to Mustang Week. Not only is it fun to drive a cool car, but the drive into Myrtle Beach also allows us to spend some quality time in one of Ford’s new machines. We get jaded being around mega-power machines, so it’s always great to recalibrate our backside dyno for what a stock Mustang feels like.

For this year we were lucky enough to score a 2016 Mustang GT Premium optioned with the California Special Package. If you are unfamiliar with this option group, it actually packs in a lot of value for its $1,995 price tag.